• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the association between pet ownership and asthma symptoms in Korean children. Methods: This study used data from the 8th Panel Study on Korean Children in 2015. For the final study, 1598 cases were used. Wheezing as an asthma symptom was self-reported as an outcome variable. Whether children had owned dogs or cats or not was used as an independent variable. Results: A total of 6.8% of children lived with dogs and 2.1% of children lived with cats in their homes. There were 4.0% of children who had asthma symptoms in the past year. When comparing 'children who had owned dogs for more than 12 months' with 'children who had not owned dogs', the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for 'asthma symptoms' were 1.20 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.10-1.30) among male children and 2.19 (95% CI, 1.94-2.46) among female children. When comparing 'children who had owned cats for more than 12 months' with 'children who had not owned cats', the adjusted ORs for 'asthma symptoms' were 38.94 (95% CI, 35.55-42.65) among male children and 5.32 (95% CI, 4.60-6.16) among female children. When comparing 'children who had owned both dogs and cats for more than 12 months' with 'children who had not owned at all', the adjusted OR for 'asthma symptoms' was 13.22 (95% CI, 11.93-14.65), and when comparing 'children who had owned cats only' with 'children who had not owned at all', the adjusted OR for 'asthma symptoms' was 9.25 (95% CI, 8.50-10.08). Conclusions: As a result, children's asthma symptoms were higher in the case of cats than with dogs, and in the case of cats, boys were more at risk than girls. In the analysis for the risk of asthma symptoms when a dog and a cat are raised at the same time, it was statistically confirmed that the children in the home were more at risk than with single animal ownership. The results of this study can be considered to be of great importance in policy-making and for the use of educational materials in the field of environmental health.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.11.1-11.7
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• 2017

Background: Use of prebiotics in companion animal nutrition is often considered advantageous over probiotics because of the ease of handling, ability to withstand processing and storage etc. While most of the studies on prebiotic use in dogs have been done with processed food as basal diet, the response in relation to homemade diet feeding is not very well explored. Methods: The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) supplementation on nutrient digestibility, hindgut fermentation, immune response and antioxidant indices in dogs. Ten Spitz pups were divided into two groups: control (CON) with no supplementation, and experimental (MOS) wherein the basal diet was supplemented with MOS at 15 g/kg diet. All dogs were fed on a home-prepared diet for a period of 150 days. The study protocol included a digestion trial, periodic blood collection and analysis for lipid profile and erythrocytic antioxidants. Immune response of the animals was assessed towards the end of the feeding period. Results: Results revealed no significant (P > 0.05) variations in palatability score, intake and apparent digestibility of nutrients between the groups. Faecal score, faeces voided, faecal pH, concentrations of ammonia, lactate and short-chain fatty acids were comparable (P > 0.05) between the two groups. Cell-mediated immune response, assessed as delayed-type of hypersensitivity response, was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the MOS group. The percent of lymphocyte sub-populations CD4+ and ratio of CD4+:CD8+ were also significantly (P < 0.05) higher in MOS group. The serum IgG levels were similar (P > 0.05) in both the groups. Supplementation of MOS lowered (P < 0.05) serum total- and LDL- cholesterol levels, when compared with the control group. The erythrocytic antioxidant indices were similar (P > 0.05) between the two groups. Conclusions: The results indicated that supplementation of MOS at the rate of 15 g/kg in the diet of dog augmented the cell-mediated immune response and serum lipid profile without any influences on digestibility of nutrients, hindgut fermentation and antioxidants indices.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.193-200
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• 2018

This study is an experiential case study of cybercrime fraud that combines pharming and voice phishing in April 2017. Research on victims who have actually suffered in the study of crime or disaster is a very useful field in establishing crime prevention measures. This study is significant in that Korea is relatively poor in this kind of research. I got cyber fraud as a consequence of my loss of reasonable judgment due to mental confusion when a companion dog who was raised for 8 years was in a very dangerous situation with cystitis. Fortunately, I received all the damages in a quick report, but the period was eight months. It took too much time to get back all the damages, so I had to suffer another pain. Based on my experience, I suggest damage prevention measures. First, when a certain condition and a certain amount are transferred, the transaction is automatically stopped or a more strict confirmation procedure is added. Secondly, trafficking means to arrest the perpetrator without any harm to the victim is sought. Third, the victims of crime should be promptly reimbursed for damages or a system for lending their living funds to zero or lower interest rate.